www.CostaRicaTicas.com

Yeah, this is a very enjoyable thread. Who'd a thunk it - us mongers using the big head to contemplate the minds of latina chicas?

I have little to add except:

Senor Traylor,
I lived in Chicago for many years, and it's definitely true that American women as a group are overweight. But did you notice the men's bellies in the grocery checkout line? Unfortunately, zillions of Americans of both genders have become brain dead, self-absorbed, couch potatoes and are proud of it! Even worse, we're beginning to reap what we've sown into our bellies and brains. (Sorry for the rant.) Check out "Fast Food Nation" or the new movie, "Good Night and Good Luck" where Edward R. Murrow talks about the danger of television becoming (my words here) the pacifier of the masses.
On the other hand, if you want to see more Americans who look better and who exercise their gray matter a little, get out ot the rust belt (close your eyes while you travel through rural America, especially at truck stops) and head for the west coast or the Rockies or many parts of the northeast. Or at least get down to the Chicago Gold Coast (if you're not already there) where lots of people belong to gyms and run/bike on the lake shore!

Senor Micky,
Isn't the real question WHY Ticas and Ticos (at least those we come in contact with) focus on the banalities of daily life, rather than more "lofty" considerations? I trust you'd agree it's not a genetic matter, but a consequence of historical social and economic factors.

Also, most of the chicas we meet have the mentalities of fourteen year-olds in part because they're only 20 or so anyway, no?
Is a relatively uneducated American 20 year-old much better? Not the ones I've met!

Uh, just re-read my last post.
Lo siento. It doesn't read at all in the spirit in which it was intended - didn't intend to sound preachy or combative.
This really is a great thread, with excellent thoughts by everyone.
Note to self - coffee first, then post if necessary.

Traveler,
While I am drunk now (and drunk for my first response), my intention wasnt to be a pompus a**hole. I wasnt critisizing costa rica but the entire third world.
My point was that it wasnt genetic, but that many places do not raise their Ch*ldren to question the way the world works or why it works the way it does.
Yes, many First Worlders (US, France, UK, Japan, Singapore, etc.) have the same lack of curiosity about the world around them that Ticos and Ticas do not.
The point was that only 10% (give or take) of the Costa Rican population raise their Ch*ldren to question the way the world works.
While we in the first world ( Canada, Australia, Ireland, Germany, etc.) are more likely to investigate how wine ferments, how computers work, why sh*t stinks.
We will ponder these questions even if it means we will have no economic advantage due to the answer. ( I will never figure out how a computer works , I have screwed up every home brew experiment I have ever tried, and I will evacuate a whole floor of an office building while on the bowl and still not change my diet of booze and red meat).
This is Western civilization. Very few in South America, asia, africa, etc. raise their k*ds to question the world around them.
This is not a critique of an individual but an indictment of these societies as a whole. There are plenty of Costa Ricans (africans, vietmamese, thais, etc.) who can function in this world better than me. The vast majority do not. They have not been taught to think their way around problems.
I critisize the way these people were raised. ( not their ethnic group)

Any way pura vida
I will be in the bahamas later this month, anyone have any good info?

Yo Micky,

Point well taken. I'm really intrigued by how people in different cultures tend to think, or not think, too.

By the way, I wish I could write as well as you do when I'm drunk!

I dated a girl from Panama for 2 months, who was 24....
never went to college, really...
lived at moms still...
never worked an actual job...
drank regularly...

She was capable of a deep conversation to a limited degree... but for all of her imagined maturity... she had no idea what the phuck she was talking about... I tried to teach her a few things, but the only things she seemed to want to 'learn' were sexual... so I simply 'taught' on that subject instead...
Maybe the chicas don't bother to learn since there is no demand for that quality (depth)... they focus on physical perhaps since that's where their primary 'market value' exists, especially in their culture... that's a shame when that happens...
but many of them perhaps are too busy worrying about how they will eat and feed their little ones to give a phuck about someone's 'inner ch*ld" or ch*ldhood woes or daddy issues... sometimes life really isn't that complicated, it actually is exactly what it looks like, and who gives a phuck why...
If I want a deep conversation, I will talk to the fellas... girls don't even understand Themselves half the time.... and maybe guys avoid deep conversations since these lead to criticism of the guy or the guy offending her... and girls avoid them maybe because they know their logic won't hold up... gringas try but their "logic" is even more flawed...
Glad to have this group to get 'deep' with... now where's my beer?

-Solamente

_________________
check yourself before you wreck yourself

Well I figure what the heck, I'll throw my hat into this ring.
Let me start by saying that I believe that it is your life experiences, not your age that gives you maturity. So let me also give you a little perspective on where I am coming from. I am divorced. My wife left seven years ago with another woman. I have since raised our two Ch*ldren without assistance. My X continues on expecting what she has always had, to be well cared for, and to have no real responsibilities placed on her. In a lot of ways, I think this gives me good perspective on where the chicas are coming from. Most of them fell for some hot young latino, at what to us is an early age, but historically, and culturally for them, is normal. Humans become sexually mature at about 14. It is only very recently in the span of the existence of our race that we have imposed the extended childhood that is the norm for western civilization.
So here they are, 18 to 20. Many of them are in the same boat as me. They dove into the "relationship" pool, got creamed, and are now just living on the best they can. Anyone who has been burnt bad is more than a little cautious of sticking their hand in the flame again. Most have serious responsibilities, and are doing there best to meet them. They feel they can never really trust a man again, and they are probably right!
I would also like to point out that most have grown up in a world that is much less certain than what we know here in the good old U.S. of A. Especially those from Colombia and Nicaragua. Why plan ahead 20 years when a group of terrorists might come by next week and erase everything you have ever known. I have fallen in love with just about every chica I have banged. Does that mean I am going to try and “enlighten” them, and take them back to the states to turn them into my X. Dios Mio! Not on your life! I wouldn’t wish that on any of them. If anything I am beginning to be more like them. Are our “secure” lives really better? I have come to believe that philosophy, even morality, are only illusions of those who can afford them. The rest of us just take what we can get, when we can get it. I am personally hoping to shed the shackles of the “civilized” society here in the states, and take up a quiet, simple existence in a cultural backwater like CR.

Pura Vida!
Tonka.

Wow- when I first found this site, I figured you guys were just a bunch of fat, old, farts.

I still think that but I'm thoroughly impressed by what's been offered in this thread. Your views, experiences and opinions have really helped me to understand what's going on down here. And, more imprtantly, to look at what I really want.

Thanks, fellas.

And here I thought this was a thread about bottom feeding at ZB. Don't you hate it when there's like two girls at the bar and you're wondering "Are these the undesirables? Or are they the two first to show up at work?"

I think the worst of the "no curiosity latino countrys" is the Dom. Rep. I have been going there for 26 yrs, have met men and women from all classes and most all of them ask only your name! But the ones you meet from New York are full of questions! I dont reaslly go along with the poverty reason for it! I just got back from 4 months in E. Africa, and was around people MUCH more poor than anybody in latin america! And they will drive you up the wall with all thier guestions! Especially the working girls from the bars! They want to know EVERYTHING about you before they will do the deed! Its also a bit like tthat in India and Indonesia which are also POOR countrys! later

_________________
Colorado Dan

I have had some fantastic relationships with ticas Some have lasted as long as 48 hours.
On the lighter side, who at our age would want to be with just one woman when we have tasted the buffet. I do date three special girls (who know each other) in CR who I do not send money to. They do know what a dog I am and do bring me presents from time to time ( sweet skinny newbees) . If this was the way gringas were with out all the phuching drama I would not have to fly to CR every month for my fix. I do love my deep relationships with Ticas. They understand what I like and try to outdue each other for my affection (money). Why didn't I find this place when I was 30? I know lots of us have asked ourselves the same question. Have a nice day phucking and enjoying the deep relationships in CR.

I also might throw in here that a refreshing part of the latin culture I happen to like is...they want to know YOU. Not WHAT you do, or WHAT religion or political affiliation you are. They just want to know the essense of YOU. Are you fun, sad, happy, dangerous, what is your family like, etc. It's refreshing from the gringo culture which is all focused on "what do you DO" "what kind of house or car do you own", "what college did you attend". While there are surely class levels in Lat Am, they really arent in your face about it in a social setting. Of course I'm speaking in generalities.

So, if your chica asks a lot of these kinds of questions, she is just measuring your greenback capacity. It is not normal with the overall culture.

As the previous poster says...just enjoy your deep physical communication and dont try to get gringa level communication and understanding. It's easier that way...

It also sounds like many gringo woman I have dated (mostly in their 20's).

_________________
It is cheaper to pay now and get it over with.
It is also easier to get them to leave.